


Those Who Get Left Behind

by Queertrees



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Abortion, F/M, Ghosts, Multi, UNIT, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-28
Updated: 2012-10-28
Packaged: 2017-11-17 04:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queertrees/pseuds/Queertrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose's journey from a different perspective- the Stuff of Legends' best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Who Get Left Behind

My name is Shareen Costello. 

Upon acceptance into this operation, every staff member must explain the events that led them here. Mine are simple (as I am), but will hopefully make you understand that the things that the review board were questioning, that they thought would weaken me, are really the things that make me the strongest. 

I grew up on the Powell Estate in London. I am 25 years old and I am a single mother to my 2 year old daughter. There is one person who I can definitely cite as shaping my decision to enlist in this operation, though she would have probably hated to hear that. Because of this person, I know I have the strength and compassion that this position requires. That person is Rose Tyler. 

Rose and I were friends since we were kids. She lived in the block opposite from me and then we both went to Jericho Street School. She grew up with a single mother as well, and if my daughter can turn out half as well as Rose did, I'll be blessed. I had the greatest best friend I could have asked for. 

Her mum Jackie would let me stay over all the time. I remember when her mum read us Snow White and Rose Red, Rose said since she had the same name that meant she was gonna be in a fairy tale and I said that I wished my name was Snow White so I could be in it too, so she told me that she'd come get me when that happened so I could be in one with her. She was always making up stories of her own to tell me. I used to get upset a lot because my parents were right arseholes and so I'd run out and hide from them with her. Rose would make up these fantastic stories and tell them to me till they took me out of myself. I'd stop crying and I'd believe all these magic worlds she'd create, and we'd be characters in them, riding on dragons’ backs and being chums with the fairies, fighting witches and meeting handsome wizards. 

Later on we were always getting in trouble- well, usually it was me getting her in trouble but she never made me take the full blame. We weren't bad kids, we were just bored, so we did all the things bored kids do. I'd tell her we were cutting school that day and her eyes would light up, and we'd go do nothing but look at boys and eat chips all day. We had our first ciggie together, got drunk for the first time together (and got a complete dressing down from Jackie for it too). Rose was at my side, when we were young and stupid enough to say yes and dive into everything that we came across, and we were always ready to pull the other one out when we’d gotten in too deep. 

The thing was, no matter how many tales of make believe Rose made up, we knew we were never getting off that estate. Her mother never did, her dad died there, my parents never even wanted to get off their settee let alone the council housing. If we were gonna die somewhere, we figured we might as well feel like we ruled the place. Which is why we were always pretending. Keeping each other’s spirits up. Like in gymnastics class when we’d pretend we were going away to the Olympics and never coming back. When we were 8 we crowned her Queen and me King of Powell. When we were 15 we realised that place ruled us and not the other way round.

A year later I’d been kicked out of school. She'd left it too, to be with her boyfriend- Jimmy Stone. Though this is not the story of Jimmy Stone, he was a character in ours. Jimmy. Jimmy had red hair and a green jacket and a cigarette glued to his lips- real bad boy. And, you know, he was in a band and had a motor bike. We'd both had a crush on him since we were in fourth year, but when we were teenagers it was obvious it was her he liked back. They had their first kiss at a rave we went to with our friend Annette. Rose left school for him because he was gonna make it big with his band, so he said, and she had to be working so they'd have money to live on in the meantime. She’d do anything she asked, she was so in love with him. Did his cooking, his washing. She even moved in with him, and we really believed all the dreams for a while, cos he was playing all these gigs and there was always somebody he was saying was 'interested'. We were gonna be like the girls in Almost Famous, we thought, except filthy rich. But then it all went wrong, cos she got pregnant and she didn't keep it. 

I can say that now, there's no one around who she would care if they knew. Jimmy knew, and all. It’s not like he made her get rid of it or anything, he was quite keen on it in fact, he liked the idea of her home with his son, you know? But she told me she didn't want a kid feeling as trapped and bored as she did. So the day after she took the test, I went with her to hospital and that was that. 

It was the first time she’d not done what Jimmy said. Jimmy didn't like it, but he said it was alright. And this is where I look bad. See, when I’m upset about something, everyone's gonna hear about it. I'll yell and scream at things till it's over, but Rose, when something really, REALLY upset her, she'd shut everyone out till she wasn't anymore, just shut down, and I hadn't really ever seen her upset like that, so when she wasn't crying, and she was quieter than usual and not going out so much but that was about all, I thought she was over it, I thought she was fine. And Jimmy- Jimmy Stone said she was fine, not that he would have known really. I thought HE was the one that needed help. When bad boys let you see them cry, I thought, it must really be worse for him. So we all rallied around Jimmy and not around Rose cos we thought she was fine. She started staying home all the time. We’d go out and Jimmy’d complain she did nothing but come home from work and eat chips and watch telly and ignore him, unless he ordered her to do something. I listened to every word he said, gladly let him cry on my shoulder. Cos I thought, if I’d been Rose, I would’ve loved to have a kid with Jim. My dark skin and his red hair- maybe they’d look funny together, but I wished I had a tough boy like him crying over me. I didn’t know about their fights till later. He just looked so sad. I took him out with Annette and Trisha to a show one night. He told me it was over between him and Rose, and that he'd always fancied me and knew I did the same for him. I called Rose straight away and told her, but she just said, in her quiet voice, "Yeah, whatever, I’m done with him too, have him if you like." 

Like I said, this is where I look bad. I was a stupid kid but I should have still known better than to get with your best friend's man. I did fancy him even still, though, and Rose had always been straight with me. I thought a one-off rebound couldn't hurt him or her. But then he started saying he loved me, and a week later when I lied to Rose about why I didn't meet her after Henrick's, it felt like sneaking around, and I was in too deep already, so I told her. Everything she'd been shutting down rose up and she did scream all right. We went at it. Her calling me a cheap tramp, me saying she couldn't keep her own man, it was awful. We split ways that night and didn't talk for nearly a month. She moved back in with her mum and Jimmy and I started going steady. But what happened next is so Rose. Didn't matter that her jealous streak was a mile wide, she came to me and said she'd forgiven me and that if I was happy with Jimmy that was great. She told me I should watch him though, and of course she was right, but you can't see things like that when you think you're in love. They never really talked again but she really did forgive me. 

The year after that Rose disappeared. She was with a new boy off the estate and everyone thought he'd done her in, but he was a nice kid and loved her a lot. I wanted so much to believe she'd just run away, but I thought she wouldn't do that without saying goodbye to me. I thought she must’ve been dead. I was living with Jim by then. Was good to get out of my parents flat. My cousin owns the pub on the corner, so he hired me to wait tables and Jim to wash the china, which was good until he got sacked for getting in a fight with a customer. Rose's bloke, Mickey, he used to come by and have a pint when he was done in the garage, cos I didn't look at him strange like all the rest of them. I thought that was how it would be forever, waiting tables and going home to Jim. 

But then Rose came back. She wasn't dead after all, she'd been travelling. She came by the pub a year after she disappeared and I dropped a whole tray of beers and cried the whole night. They had to send me home. She was telling me how amazing it all was, the world out there, which was more why I was crying- cos I wasn't cross with her, I was just right stunned that Rose Tyler of all people, Queen of nothing but the Powell Estate, had gone out and seen Egypt and Rome and all these places I never even knew existed. She left again after that but she'd send me the best postcards from everywhere- Barcelona, New York. They saw a brilliant Elvis impersonator, just like the real thing. On the back, she’d make up all these mad stories just like when we were kids. Even when she was seeing the whole world, she was still dreaming, my Rosie. Making up all these bonkers things, it made me laugh. Jim would always roll his eyes and say that she and her new bloke must be on drugs or summat. He would go on about how traveling wasn’t anything real to do with your life, and how they were basically just unemployed, but I thought, well he can talk can’t he, and at least she’s having the time of her life. It’s not like there was some big career she was neglecting. When we were in school and had to say what we wanted to do when we grew up, Rose never really had much of an answer. We both did gymnastics and she was way better than me so I always thought maybe she could be a dancer or something, but really, if she’d just stayed here, she would’ve ended up doing any old job to get by, nothing special. Jim said they were no better than tramps refusing to grow up but I just ignored him.  
I was having to ignore him more and more those days. And there was definitely more to ignore. He had jobs but never for very long, and there was always something shady about them. Jackie was still there for me, kept me informed as to any gossip he was in. Micks was good, too, if he was out and saw Jim getting into a fight he'd try to send him home. Everyone was telling me either to run or to stay and get my man in order, but Mickey told me one day how he knew how you did stupid things when you were in love with someone, and you had to be willing to forgive yourself more than anyone else. He knew, of course, you see. 

Rose used to say the only time we ever fell out was that time over Jim, over some stupid boy. That was true till this one thing that happened. One time she'd come home because her mum had been dating some young spring chicken and it had gone off and Jackie was upset about it so Rose came for a visit. I'd been thinking something over and knew I needed to talk about it with her. I'd come round to Jackie's to have dinner with them and finally meet her new man (she said he wasn't her boyfriend, but you know when you think silly things like that when you're that young because you think your relationship is SO much more special than anyone else's- anyway I think it was also cos things were still a bit fucked with her previous bloke Micks. But even though this was the first time I'd actually met her man, it couldn't have been more obvious that they were together and head over heels. I mean, traveling the world even!). After dinner she and I were doing the washing up. I was telling her that her man was gorgeous, and she blushed and asked if I was still with Jim and if I was gonna go back to school, cos I’d mentioned it last time she was there. I told her that yeah I guess I was still with Jim, and no I wasn't headed to school cos money was a bit tight and I was kind of rubbish at school anyway. But I’d thought of something that would fix both of those, I was gonna join the army and get trained up and see the world just like her and I'd finally get away from Jim at the same time. She looked at me like I had three heads and smiled in a way that let me knew she thought it was a shit idea.  
"What? I don't have some boyfriend with endless funds to take me around the world like you do. What am I supposed to do to get the fuck out of here?"  
"No, Shareen, it's not that, sorry... it's just... I don't like guns much." I looked at her and crossed my arms.  
"You mean your BLOKE don't like guns much." She shrugged.  
"No but he's right though. I mean there's wars goin on, you don't wanna get mixed up in that, do you? There are other options, other peaceful options you could do."  
"Rose, look at me. Tell me what other damn options I have! if I don't get out of here soon, in a year you'll come back and I'll have little ginger babies breathin in Jim’s second hand smoke and I’ll be covered in spots and wearin slippers to the shop. Look, you found YOUR way out of here, this is MY way out. They’ll train me up good and proper, smack some discipline into me, and I’ll get to see the world!”  
“Shareen, you can do that all yourself, you don’t need someone telling you what to do and how to do it!”  
“You say that, and then as soon as I think up a plan for myself, you go and knock it! This is me makin my own choices!”  
“Well I’m sorry Shareen, but I’m not gonna get excited about you going and shooting guns at people!”  
“I’m protectin my country, Rose, what are you doing?” She didn’t have an answer for that, just slammed down the plate she was holding and stormed off to her room. I left before she came back out.  
I’m glad that wasn’t the last time I saw her. We never really talked about it again, but next time she came back, she rang my doorbell and flung her arms around my neck when I opened the door. She asked me if I was still going through with it and I said yeah, and she put a leather cord around my neck with a little wooden carving hanging from it, and said she’d picked it up on her travels and that it would protect me. It has. 

The next time she came back was the last time. That was when we all thought the ghosts were coming. Before we knew the truth. Before the battle of Canary Wharf. I’d been away at the training camp. There were a lot of ghosts there, but none for me. It was nice being away, because it meant I was away from Jim. Whenever I came back, he’d come round and I’d tell him we were over and I’d tell him to piss off, but he’d wear me down and we’d end up back together, for a night or for a week. I knew it wouldn’t last forever but I hated the way I couldn’t help but let it linger. I was back home for a week before I was shipped out. I was finally going to see the world. I got a text from Rose to say that she was home. We met up in the chip shop down the street because Jim was home. I remember every little detail about that last time I saw her. It’s funny because it was nothing, you know? She was just my best mate and we weren’t anything special, that’s why it’s so important. Rose Tyler and me, we were getting out. We were nothing special but we were getting out. But for now we were just kids in a chip shop, eating till we felt like we would burst, and telling stories till we got cramp from laughing. 

I don’t know why she and Jackie and Rose’s bloke went to Canary Wharf. She didn’t tell me she was going. I can’t imagine why she would be down there. When the fighting started, my unit got called up. We were assigned to protect the civilians. I was guarding a house full of kids. They’d run in there when the invasion started, they’d been on their way home from playing footie in a lot. We were pretty well hidden, I suppose. We heard a lot of screaming outside but I kept them quiet. I’m good with kids. They were so scared. So was I. I’d always wanted to see the world outside of the estate, and once it came to me, it was a nightmare. But I kept telling myself, these kids have to know that just because they’re not some crazed evil alien, they’re not nothing, and that’s why they’re so important. I whispered stories to them when it was silent outside (no grating voices yelling for death). Stories me and Rose had made up. That kept them calm. 

Towards the end of the day, as the sun was finding every crack to stab through and hit our faces, they found us. We could hear the boots pounding into the ground and then the big metal man smashed in the door. I’d told the kids to hide behind the stairs, so it was just me and the metal thing, but one little one tried to run out once the door was open. The metal man yelled “Delete!” and the little boy fell. So then I saw red. I shot it and I killed it, I did, I swear. I must’ve hit some weak spot or something. Doesn’t matter. That little kid was dead, a fucking casualty in a war and not even ten yet. 

When it was all over and the Earth was crying with relief, I went to the emergency center where they were pinning up names of them that had been confirmed dead. Rose and Jacks were on it. I don’t think Rose’s man was on it, but I could never remember his name so I might have missed it. But yeah, my best friend died in Canary Wharf. Her name’s carved into that memorial. I go to visit it on her birthday. Someone always leaves flowers on her name- roses sometimes of course, but other years beautiful ones I’ve never seen before. I’ve never found out who it is. I don’t know how she died but I know she must have been brave. I don’t think she got turned into a metal thing. I think she died a human. She was done taking orders from people, after all. 

I was about ready to chuck it all in then. The rebuilding started, and once again I found myself with Jim Stone. I thought, what else was either of us going to do? Glad when I got my discharge from the service. I spent a while in a funk, I suppose, nothing left for me at home and nothing pulling me away from it. It was back to waiting tables and smelling like Jim’s menthols. I stopped caring that this was all I was ever going to be. I thought, of course. This was all there was ever going to be. This was what I was born to be. Two years later, when I was six weeks pregnant, Jim decided he was born to be a club promoter in America, and I decided that I was gonna have a baby who would never be resigned to being anything or being with anyone. Finally ditched Jim for good. It wasn’t over the baby entirely, but it helped that he didn’t want anything to do with it or me. The feeling was mutual. 

I was nine months pregnant when the Daleks came back and the stars went out. They leveled my block of flats. I wasn’t home, but I just stared and stared at the rubble until a van came by and I hitched a ride going out of town. There were troops and troops of soldiers running through the streets. Part of me still wanted to be like them. The first ones that get called when something goes horribly wrong. Knowing what to do because you got your orders and you trusted them- that gives you power. 

The van was headed up to Hampstead, because it had already been bombed so they figured the bombing might move somewhere that hadn’t been hit yet. I rode with them for a while. Traffic was hell. There was a nasty little man kept saying dirty things he’d like to do to me. Nine months in and all. War doesn’t make for angels, I’ll tell you that. Normally I would have put him in his place (or put his nose out of place), but I was just so damn tired. The other lads in the van just laughed and told me he was off his head and I should pay him no mind. There was one other girl who looked sorry for me but she never said a word the whole trip. I couldn’t bear to hear another word after a few hours so I told them to let me off. They laughed and told me it was my funeral. It was dark by then, and the looters were everywhere, even this far from the shops. They’d started taking things from abandoned houses. Can’t really say I blamed them. End of the world and all. You’re not gonna wait for your paycheque to feed your family if Daleks bombed your job. 

I was walking through the streets not even trying to hide and I just felt blank. If I’d been stabbed and bleeding I don’t think I would have felt it. I noticed the lights flashing and heard the noises and the screaming and I remember thinking to myself that we must not have been far enough away, that I supposed this area hadn’t been bombed enough for it to be safe yet. I didn’t even realize where I was going and I was surprised to find myself huddling under an upturned skip on a pitch-black street. I was even more surprised to find I was crying my eyes out.  
I don’t know if you’ll believe this next bit or not. But I suppose you’ve all seen your fair share of things that nobody else would believe, so maybe you will. I could hear footsteps- human footsteps. Only one set- the street was deserted other than me and whoever that was. From over the tops of the houses I could see the shots being fired from the skies, only a street away. Soon the shots would move down a street and then there would be no more footsteps and no more crying from me.  
The footsteps stopped outside my skip. I could see the person from the waist down. They were holding a huge gun, but I couldn’t recognize what kind. They weren’t a soldier, or at least not in uniform. I kept right on crying. Gun or no, there was no saving us from the fire from the sky.  
The person crouched down to look under the edge of the skip. I thought, I must have died already, or gone mad. It was Rose. It was her ghost. I didn’t know ghosts could look surprised. She wasn’t see-through or dressed in white or anything, she looked solid as you or me and when she reached out to wipe my face, I could feel her hand, and it was warm.  
“Rose... you’re dead though,” I cried. She smiled sadly at me and nodded.  
“I got tired of it and thought I’d come back for a bit,” she said.  
“Does this mean I’m gonna die?” Rose’s ghost took her gun off and crawled under the skip with me. She huddled down next to me and held me while I cried.  
“No, Shareen, you’re not gonna die. Not here, anyways.”  
“But I can’t stop hearing them screaming. I’m living in a fucking nightmare and there’s nowhere I can run.”  
The ghost Rose rocked me back and forth just like all the times I’d cried in her bedroom.  
“You were right, you know. You do need a gun sometimes. Some things you need to fight for with everything you’ve got. Even a gun,” she said after a while. I wiped my face with my sleeve.  
“Don’t say that Rosie,” I cried. She hugged me close.  
“Alright love. Just know that whatever you choose to do, you’ll make it out of here. And it will be wonderful one day. I’m your best mate and I’ll always have your back. Just do what you think is right. You’re brilliant, Shareen. You don’t need anyone to tell you what to do. Not me, for sure.”  
“Am I ever gonna see you again?”  
“Probably not.”  
“Rose I miss ya so much. Where’ve you been?”

As Rose’s ghost held me, she started telling me stories. The maddest stories of all. Not about going round this world, but about going to different worlds. Meeting emperors and queens, monsters and angels. The stars were gone from above us, but she told me stories about running out to meet them, about dancing in their light as they died and were born. She told me fairy stories. She told me the story of Little Red Riding Hood, except the wolf wasn’t bad, it was just powerful and dangerous, and led her back home. Ghost stories. I didn’t understand everything she was telling me but I clung to every word. She spoke low and quiet but I listened so hard that it drowned out all the screams and all the shooting. 

When she stopped, it was quiet outside again. She kissed the top of my head.  
“The universe may fall apart, but you stay strong, Shareen.” She lifted my hand up to my neck and pressed it to the little carving hanging from a cord around my neck. Still wearing it now. And then she faded. God’s truth, she faded right in front of me, gun and all. 

I don’t think I would have made it through if it hadn’t been for her. But we did make it through. And then, hours and hours later, the sky grew brighter and brighter till the sun streamed into every crack and we all rose up again. 

When U.N.I.T. contacted me about rejoining the military forces as a facilitator in Initial Contact Relations, I thought about what Rose’s ghost told me. That I had her blessing, if I thought I was making the right choice. And I know I am. In this position I will be protecting my planet, my people. And I will be ensuring that alien intelligence that comes to Earth knows the value of our people- the bravery, the loyalty, the love. I am proud of the fact that a girl from council housing can stand tall as a soldier for her world, and represent the best of its people. 

The review board has expressed concern that because I have a young child, my position as a soldier will be compromised. However, my daughter keeps me strong. The review board has expressed concern that since I have not travelled the world, I will be unworldly and naïve. I submit to the board that my life experience, while geographically confined, has not bred me to be naïve, and that these days, as other worlds come to us, we no longer have the choice to be unworldly.

Rose may have been a fairy tale, but a fairy tale is nothing if there’s no one to tell the tale and no one to tell it to. That’s what me and my daughter are. My daughter Rose.

### EPILOGUE

In a parallel world, the differences were what usually stuck out to Rose. The empty space where something never happened, or the way different people, songs, colors, history filled the holes. But today what shocked her was familiarity. The feeling you get when all of a sudden you recognize a face in a crowd. Surrounded by the grey cement of Powell Estate, Rose knew that she was the thing that was different among all the familiarities. These streets had never seen her running for the bus every morning, the dark corners had never hidden kisses between her and Mickey, this courtyard had never lain covered in snow while she held the Doctors hand and chosen stars to chase. Her mouth involuntarily twisted when she realized that on this Estate, curtains had never twitched at the sound of her and Jimmy Stone fighting. Now, she had everything. Big house. Both parents. Little brother. Her Doctor. But still something was missing. The Doctor had taken her here today, to this home that had never been her home. 

“We’ve lost so many places and so many people- if there is still something within your reach that makes you feel like home, we’re going there,” he’d told her. They’d been looking for a place to live, since neither of them felt right in a mansion (so much smaller on the inside).

The Doctor’s hand tightened around hers, and she looked over to see a woman lighting a cigarette right outside the doors of one of the buildings. Oh god, Shareen. Her breath caught. The last time she’d seen Shareen, she’d found her alone, shivering, and extremely pregnant. She’d let her think she was a dream. Rose hadn’t been sure the universe wasn’t about to fall apart- she’d thought it would have been too much for Shareen to handle at that moment to find out otherwise.  
“Go to her,” the Doctor said. She looked at him, scared.  
“It’s not fair. I get to be with everyone but Shareen in my world doesn’t have me anymore. Just like you in the other world, you’re on your own.”  
“But this Shareen has never had Rose Tyler to have her back. Don’t deny her now.” 

Rose let go of his hand and walked over to the girl cautiously. When Shareen looked up, her eyes had no recognition in them. Rose wondered who her best friend had been.  
“Shareen? Shareen Costello?” Shareen looked suspiciously at Rose.  
“Who’s asking?”  
“My name’s Rose... Rose Tyler. I don’t know if you remember my parents, but they lived here years ago- Jackie and Pete?” Shareen dragged on her cigarette before answering.  
“Yeah I remember them. Jackie with the fake tan, Pete with the mad schemes, made it to the big time. Don’t remember you, though.” Rose smiled.  
“Yeah, I was um, running away from home a lot, stayin with... aunts... in the North.... “  
“How you know my name? Jackie and Pete never paid me much mind, didn’t like the boys I ran with.”  
“...Jimmy Stone?” Shareen glowered again.  
“You’re not a friend of his, are you? I don’t care if they let him out on good behavior, I’m done with him, you can tell him that....”  
“No, no! I’m... I was a friend of Mick- Rickey’s, though...?” Shareen laughed.  
“Rickey an Jake, yeah? Nice one. Yeah, knew them too. Rickey’s gran died and Rickey scarpered after that, you hear?” Rose nodded. “Still, none of them ever mentioned you.” Rose shrugged.  
“I guess you could say I’ve never been that close to anyone here.” Shareen laughed, short and bitter.  
“Yeah, mate, same here innit. I keep to myself. Bloody noisy place to be alone. Anyway whatchoo want with me?”  
“Ah well I’m... we’re moving back home, for a while anyway, me an my... my friend the Doctor over there, and I thought maybe since you know the area you could show us around?”  
Shareen gestured to the Doctor with a jerk of her chin, “Your friend. Are you an him...?” Rose smiled and looked at her trainers, blushing.  
“Uh, yeah, we are.” Shareen grinned and nodded.  
“Nice one. You like ‘em skinny and mad, don’t you.” Rose looked up and giggled. The Doctor was across the courtyard examining the paving stones like they were pieces of fine art.  
“Well, he’s good for a laugh and he’s got a nice bum.”  
“That’s all you need, innit!” Shareen almost shouted, her smile lighting up her face like Rose remembered, “Good smile and a nice bum.”  
“Do you think you can give us the grand tour?”  
“I suppose. Can’t say I understand why you’d wanna come back round here once you’ve got out. Me, I don’t suppose I’ll ever leave this place.”  
Rose nodded and said quietly, “Yeah, I felt like that once.”

_Planet Earth. The Powell Estate. This is where I was born. For the first twenty-five years of my life nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And I was on my own. And then I met a woman named Rose and a man called The Doctor. And for the first time in my life, I had best friends. They took me away from home in their magical machine. They showed me the whole of time and space. And that's just how it started. My name is Shareen Costello. And this is the story of how I came to life. ___

**Author's Note:**

> "Only if For a Night." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5vKDf0tVw
> 
> Comments welcome! Thank you for reading x


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